Funding Supplements

I. The Dmitry Apel Memorial Scholarship (established 2013)

This scholarship honors the memory of Dr. Dmitry Apel, a PhD student in Dr. Erin Gaynor’s lab who passed away in 2013. The goal of this scholarship, as per Dmitry’s wishes, is to have a significant financial impact on the lives of Microbiology & Immunology graduate students who share Dmitry’s love of pure science and the search for scientific knowledge for its own sake. The primary aim of this $6,000 award is to reduce the stress of financial concerns on deserving graduate students, thereby improving their quality of life so that they may pursue their research without distraction. The award is intended for senior graduate students (e.g. 3rd year and above) in the Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology who have demonstrated a strong commitment to scientific research and who also have demonstrable financial need.
Complete details about the scholarship, the eligibility requirements, and the application process, as well as about Dmitry’s life, can be found at http://www.apelscholarship.ca.
Calls for applications will be sent to eligible Microbiology & Immunology graduate students and their supervisors in December of each year, with a February 28 deadline for submitting applications. Awards will be announced on or around April 29, Dmitry’s birthday.

II. PhD Tuition Award

The Faculty of Science is committed to supporting PhD students through a tuition award. All PhD students in Microbiology and Immunology will receive a tuition award for the first 4 years of their program. An additional tuition supplement is paid by individual supervisors to PhD students in their 5 year to cover tuition.

International students are eligible for an International Partial Tuition Scholarship of $3,260.84 to assist with their tuition fees if they are registered full-time and assess full tuition fees. Students are eligible as long as they are not a recipient of external scholarships or external funding that pays their tuition. The University reserves the right to change the value of this scholarship without notice.

The graduate program coordinator will confirm the eligibility of the department’s international students with the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Awards Office.

In the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Both MSc & PhD students are required to TA for one term (usually in their second year) to fulfill program requirements.

Student’s TAship stipend makes up part of their stipend (i.e. it reduces the contribution from the supervisor’s research grant).

With approval from their supervisors, students who have completed their TA mandatory requirements and volunteer to TA can receive their TAship stipend in addition to their regular stipend.

Students receiving scholarships must still TA but can receive the full value of the TAship in addition to their scholarships (at supervisor’s discretion on scholarships of $16,000 or more).

V. TA Bonus

MSc or PhD students who do not have scholarships, will receive an additional $1,500 bonus per full TAship per term. Graduate students assigned to a TAship (either as an academic requirement or at their supervisor’s discretion) will receive a TA bonus per TA term unless one of the following exceptions applies:

(a) Supervisors will not be required to give the $1,500 bonus to PhD candidates who are in their 6th or subsequent years of the graduate program, or to MSc student who are in their 4th or subsequent years.
(b) Supervisors will not give the $1,500 bonus to TAs who receive the full TA salary in addition to the minimum stipend. This clause applies to TAships that are academic requirements as well as those that are not.

VI. Mandatory Scholarship Top-ups

A. Top ups for students with scholarships

1. A student with any “full” (value of $16,000 or more) competitively earned scholarship will receive a mandatory supplement from their supervisor, in addition to their base stipend for each year that they hold the scholarship. However, students receiving other “top-ups” for that particular year will not receive this supplement from their supervisor. This includes:
a) Student receiving an award on top of a CIHR or NSERC scholarship
b) Students with a $30,000 Canada Doctoral Award or international award.

3. MD/PhD students with scholarships:
a) For years they are doing lab work full time, including the first year when they are taking courses, they will receive a mandatory supplement from their supervisor.
b) For years they are in med school taking courses, 0-$3,000 top-up at the discretion of their supervisor, based on how much time they are spending in the lab.

Graduate students are eligible for the Graduate Student Travel Fund only once per degree program. The Travel Fund provides one-time travel support to a graduate student who presents a paper or poster at an official conference or symposium (student workshops are ineligible) while s/he is enrolled full-time in a graduate degree program.

Travel expenses may be reimbursed directly to students or to faculty supervisors if they advanced funds for their students' travel. Reimbursements will only be made after travel is completed.

The Department of Microbiology & Immunology received a bequest from the estate of John Richard Turner. The award description can be found at UBC Student Services – Awards, Fees, and Finances – List of Awards, searching for award number 6360. NOTE: In spring, the Faculty of Graduate Studies Awards Office sends the Department an e-mail indicating the amount available for the Turner award for the upcoming academic year. The amount of the award reflects the endowment spending rate for the fiscal year as well as market performance over the past several years.

Turner Award description:
"Fellowships have been endowed through a bequest by John Richard Turner to support genetic research by graduate students in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The awards are made on the recommendation of the Department." The selection criteria are as follows: 1. The student must be in their second year of graduate school, or beyond. 2. The student cannot currently have a scholarship or fellowship (the aim of this award is to create additional fellowship opportunities for our students). 3. The student must be an author on at least one peer-reviewed research paper as a graduate student in their current UBC program (i.e. papers from previous MSc degrees are not considered).

The nomination process:

1. Each research supervisor can nominate one of their current graduate students.

2. The supervisor will provide a 1/2 page rationale supporting the nomination that a) describes the student's research accomplishments b) lists the student's publications, including the full citation c) describes the student's contribution to the publication(s) The graduate advisory committee will review all nominations and decide upon the winner(s) and the amount of the award(s).

This award will reduce the supervisor’s contribution to the student’s stipend by the amount of the award.